Another superb Duckrabbit post Tim Hetheringtons last photos and their presentation on the Guardian, which together with some interesting and informed comments explores pretty fully the kind of rather unformed misgivings I’ve had about this and several other features on war photography over the past year or so.
It’s worth too taking the time to watch the almost 15 minutes of video on the page, made by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, where Staff Sergeant Sal Giunta of the 173rd Airborne tells his own story of the events in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley which led to him being the first living Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam War. There are also more clips about their movie ‘Restrepo‘ on YouTube.
Restrepo was shot entirely in the Korengal Valley, focussing on a 15-man outpost which gives the film it’s name -and which was named after a medic killed in action there at what was considered one of the most dangerous military postings. Hetherington and Junger’s statement on the front page of the movie site includes this:
“Our intention was to capture the experience of combat, boredom and fear through the eyes of the soldiers themselves… Their experiences are important to understand, regardless of one’s political beliefs. Beliefs are a way to avoid looking at reality. This is reality.”